Why was The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology important to Husserl’s final years?

In his final years, Edmund Husserl’s The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology (1936) served as a vital project for addressing the cultural and philosophical upheaval of his time. Amidst the rise of the Nazi regime, Husserl viewed phenomenology as a means to preserve the freedom of the mind and restore humanity’s connection to reason.12

The work was significant for several reasons:

• Critique of Science: Husserl analyzed the "crisis" of European culture, which he attributed to the fragmentation of knowledge into objectivistic-physicalist and transcendental spheres. He argued that the natural sciences had forgotten the "accomplishing subject" and the life-world—the immediate, subjective world that serves as the foundation for all scientific meaning.12
• Development of the Life-World: He introduced the concept of the life-world to demonstrate that scientific truth is not superior to, but rather presupposes, the truth of immediate experience.1
• Historical Reflection: He began to examine the historicity of philosophy, tracing the split in modern thought back to René Descartes and seeking to overcome it to help humanity live according to the demands of reason.1